One Price to Pay
by Aoitori
Summary: Hatake Kakashi attained the Mangekyou Sharingan, but at what cost? What could he, the man whose precious people are dead, possibly pay to achieve this terrible power? The untold story of Kakashi's acquisition of the Mangekyou. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters and places therein. …And the world is, unquestionably, a better place because of that fact. 

Chapter 1 

Kakashi sat listlessly in his hospital bed, slowly clenching and relaxing his fists under the covers. Not because he was angry at anything in particular, but because, even after a several days' rest, his hands and feet were all that he could move without serious effort. Chakra exhaustion, he had long since decided, was one of the cruelest ailments known to man. Memories flashed, unbidden, through his head. Memories of being carried, fed, clothed, and other even more egregious indignities that no grown man should ever have to suffer-- even under the care of medical professionals-- all at the hands of well-meaning friends. The shame was inexpressible.

_Just what I get for trying that extra Raikiri…_he thought bitterly for the hundredth time that day. _But if I hadn't used it…that chuunin would have probably died…_ he answered himself, also for the hundredth time.

Why he was running A-rank missions with new chuunin… that was the real problem at hand. Even though it had been nearly a year since Orochimaru's attack had stripped Konoha of its Sandaime Hokage and scores of it's best ninja, the village was still struggling to recover its place in the delicately balanced economy of the hidden villages. With shinobi numbers still low, Kakashi, and other jounin like him, had to complete a number of missions under less than ideal circumstances.

It was not the only close call he'd had in the last few months. Thankfully, this time nobody had gotten hurt…well, he looked at his own immobile body in disgust, almost nobody. He let out another noiseless sigh and tried to think of something else.

And at precisely that moment, without warning or announcement, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast burst into the room.

"Chansu desu!" the ever-flamboyant Gai exclaimed, pointing at Kakashi. "My eternal rival, alone and vulnerable! Finally, I shall even up the score!" He poised himself for some unknown manner of ridiculous attack.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. Gai had done this at least once a day since he'd arrived and his lines hadn't changed in the least. "Janken," Kakashi said before Gai could get any further and do something unforgivably undignified.

"Ahhhh…" said Gai in frustration. "Sasuga, ore-no Rival! Alright, Janken it is!" He made a few more superfluous gestures as Kakashi slowly extricated his hand from under the sheets. "Saa SHOBU!" Yelled Gai, and Kakashi rolled his eyes once again.

"Jan-ken-pon!" they recited.

As usual, Gai went with 'rock'-his hands were already bunched into fists, after all. Kakashi went with paper--it required the least effort by far.

"Wuaaa!" moaned Gai in mock despair, making a hideous face as he did so. "Not again!"

Kakashi snorted in disinterested aversion and turned his head away.

And with that, Gai promptly seated himself down in the chair beside the bed, changing his dramatic affect into one of thoughtful gravity in one disconcerting instant.

Kakashi, however, was used to the change and determined as ever not to dignify it with a response.

"So, how is the healing coming along?" Gai asked, now with the pointed interest of a concerned friend.

"Alright," was Kakashi's response. He would have shrugged if he'd had the energy. "Not much change."

Gai frowned at him, apparently weighing something in his mind.

"Yes I know," Kakashi beat him to the punch. "I really over did it this time. Thanks." He gave his friend just a moment to realize that he's been minorly insulted before continuing. "So, any news?"

"I…huh? No…" Gai answered, clearly distracted, "…I mean, not from the other teams anyway. They haven't reported in yet."

Kakashi nodded fractionally but didn't say anything.

"Well you know," offered Gai, cheerfully, "no news is…"

"good news," Kakashi cut in, in a flat tone. "Yeah, I've been told that one."

"Hmph," said Gai, rather deflated. "Well anyway, here's a newspaper." He tossed the thick Sunday volume on Kakashi's bed. It appeared to be a lazy throw but the paper landed, very precisely, by the copy ninja's right hand. "So you can see what's going on in the village."

"Thanks," returned Kakashi, not insincerely, as he made the effort to hoist the heavy periodical to eye level.

"No problem," answered Gai as he turned to leave. But a parting glance at his rival made him pause. Kakashi was staring at the front page of the newspaper- his one eye open wide in shock and his face (what was visible of it) uncommonly pale. Gai walked back around the bed and bent down to look inquisitively at the paper, hoping to discover what had caused Kakashi so much surprise. But nothing on the page seemed worthy of the reaction Kakashi was giving it.

"Something wrong?" he turned and asked Kakashi, searching the man's face as he had the newspaper.

"No," the masked ninja replied tonelessly.

Gai looked back to the paper.

"This _is_ today's paper?" Kakashi asked with masked urgency.

Gai checked the date just to be sure. "Yes," he pointed at the top of the page, "November 4th, see?"

Relief washed over Kakashi's face, but "Good," was all he said, and he did not bother to elaborate. Nor did any amount of verbal prodding from Konoha's Green Beast prompt further explanation.

Kakashi continued to sit and look pensive in his usual, if slightly more pallid, way.

Gai waited for a while, trying stolidly to ignore the air of awkwardness that was permeating the room. But before his impatience got the better of him and he made his muttered excuses and left.

"Whew," Kakashi exhaled as soon as Gai was well and truly gone. It had taken longer than usual to get rid of his friend, and in this case, that had cost him valuable time. Still, he would have to remember to thank Gai (in some suitably understated way) for accidentally reminding him. To think, he had almost missed the most important day of the year. Kakashi summoned all of his strength and sat up in bed. The effort left him unable to move for the next several seconds. Then he turned a determined eye to the small pile that had been made of his clothes and equipment. It was on the other side of the room. He sighed once more. _Well, I'd better get started. _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Three o'clock that morning found the copy ninja fully clothed and geared –and not more than a kilometer down the street from the hospital building. In one hand he clutched a purloined crutch from one of the hospital storage rooms, with the other he leaned heavily against the wall of what was probably a restaurant of some kind, judging by the smells lingering around it.

Slowly, combining the tiny amounts of chakra he had recovered with the small measure of physical strength he could muster, he was making his way away from the hospital and steadily towards the one place in the village that he knew better than any other. With at least three and a half more hours till sunrise, he figured that he would be able to make his objective just in time. He regretted that he could not maintain his tradition of arriving fashionably late, but, in this case, he would rather choose punctuality than the embarrassment of having to explain his chakra-exhaustion.

One of the shadows on the street behind him moved in a not quite natural way and reflexes took over before he even had the chance to think. Unfortunately, reflexes were not enough to make up for his lack of energy, so their only effect was to bring a kunai mysteriously to his hand and to make him almost imperceptibly more tense.

The shadow was not intimidated in the least.

It immediately disappeared and the dematerialized right in front of him. An all too familiar face leered down into his as a pair of unnaturally strong fingers snatched his kunai out of his loose grip.

"Tsunade???" He asked, incredulously, slumping further against the wall, partly in relief, partly in disappointment.

"That's Godaime-sama to you, "genius"- brat! And what in the nine hells do you think you're doing sneaking out of my hospital at this time of night!?!"

Characteristically undaunted by her tirade, Kakashi could not resist asking, "Well, what are _you_ doing prowling around outside 'at this time of night'?"

"Ha! As _your student_ is so fond of saying: the Hokage protects her village!" The legendary sennin gave him a great thwack over the head with her closed fist. Oddly, it sounded much more painful than it actually was: she had no intention of doing him real harm.

"More importantly," she said, holding up her wayward subordinate by his collar and looking him dead in the eye, "give me one good reason not to haul your pathetic heap back to your hospital room!"

Kakashi then gave her his most uncannily serious stare, "I need to be somewhere." He said simply, gravely.

Tsunade held him back at a distance and looked at him intently. She seemed half to be reading him, half to be recalling something from the murkier parts of her memory. Finally she rolled her eyes and brought him close again. "Not good enough," she said softly but cruelly. He saw, but was powerless to react, as her free hand shot in at a pressure point in his neck. He was unconscious instantaneously.

* * *

Kakashi awoke with a start, thought that did not involve much movement in his current condition. He was outside, he realized instantly, and in a familiar place. He took a carefully look around and could scarcely believe his eye. He was at the memorial, propped neatly against a tree facing it. His crutch nowhere to be seen. 

He felt something in his hand and realized that he was holding a small scrap of paper. "You owe me, brat." was all it said. He chuckled softly, _I guess I do…_ he glanced over at the memorial…_and you too, Sandaime-sama_.

He looked to the sky; the pre-dawn grey was just succumbing to the first of the morning's sunbeams. _Perfect timing,_ he thought to himself, and exhaled a long breath, settling into his resting place and trying to look like he was sitting by choice and not by necessity.

And then he waited.


	3. Chapter 3

(Author's note: I am aware that this story does not appear to be going in it's advertised direction, and I do apologize. I'm indulging myself in the laying of a very enjoyable, if somewhat superfluous, foundation. Be assured, however, that given time and a few more chapters I will traverse the untold back-story and then satisfy your curiosity as to the matter of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Until then—yoroshiku onegaishimasu!)

Chapter 3

He didn't have long to wait.

She came just as the morning light bathed the memorial's cold stone in a wash of warm pink.

If Tsunade's clandestine arrival had been like a shadow taking human form, _her_ arrival was like the gentle rustle of an autumn leaf touching the ground. The first he knew of her presence was faint sound she made as she settled lightly down beside him in the dew-covered grass.

_So early…_thought Kakashi, with a momentary pang of shame, _how long have I made her wait these past years?_

He turned his head just fractionally so that he could see her. She sat at his left side, of course, as she had always done. She once told him it was so that they could both keep their old friend company.

"Rin," he said.

"Kakashi," she replied with a nod.

And with that perfunctory greeting completed, the two of them turned as one to fix an unwavering gaze upon the memorial before them. They silently read the names. So many of friend and comrades…and those of precious teammates…Obito…Yondaime Hokage…and…Rin herself.

On this day, and only this day, they remembered.

Each relying on the other's strength, they re-lived the terrible events that had torn apart their lives, and with a clarity that neither could face alone.

* * *

_Beneath the blood-colored, smoke-stained afternoon sky, the vicious nine-tailed fox raged on with a fury of unspeakable strength. And it raged against Konoha-gakure. All able bodied shinobi in and around the village rallied to defeat the monstrous creature, but even with armies arrayed against it, the Kyubi was proving itself unstoppable._

_Only one ninja in all the Leaf had even the prayer of a chance at bringing the monster down. His name was at the edge of every mind on the battlefield, as was the terrible reality of his none-too-coincidental absence. Konoha's Yellow Flash, the Yondaime Hokage had left only the day before on a diplomatic mission to a neighboring country. Once hostile towards the Leaf, that country's villages had been declining in strength and they had finally tendered an offer of peace, requesting that the Hokage grace them with his presence. Though no one in Konoha could yet confirm it, the timing of the Kyubi's arrival made their enemy's ploy all too clear and many feared that a similarly vicious trap had been laid for the Yondaime and his retinue. Even so, the ninjas of the Leaf had no choice but to hold on to the hope that their Hokage would return in force, for it he did not…defeat was the foregone conclusion._

_

* * *

_

_Kakashi leapt through a maze of branches in a piece of yet-untouched forest canopy, directly in the path of the Kyubi. His eyes strained see through the acrid smoke drifting in from nearby villages already laid to waste. His ill-used body protested the movement as dozens of wounds from flame and flying debris were jostled in agonizing repetition. He would have used chakra to block off some of the pain, but for the fact that he needed the little he had left to reinforce a rather badly broken leg. The coldness of battle was the only anesthetic he had, though it was poor substitute at best. He was numb to terror and numb to hope. He had only the fight before him, and the impersonal knowledge that he would continue to his last breath._

_He and a few shinobi who were similarly depleted of chakra were attempting to lay a trap for the nine-tailed creature. Weaving their way through the trees, they set up wire, explosive tags, and what weapons they had scavenged from the once-human debris that the Kyubi had left in its wake. Even as they worked feverishly to complete their deadly snare, they knew that it was, in all likelihood, an exercise in futility._

_This was neither the first nor the smartest trap to be attempted. Of the various pitfalls, cages, and explosions that had been rigged for their nemesis, a precious few had actually lasted long enough to be set off, and those few had only served to make the beast more angry. This time they would try to use it's irrational retaliatory nature to their advantage. After triggering a mass of explosions they would move the treetops to simulate a large creature making it's escape. With any luck, the nine-tails would follow its imaginary foe further from the village, and further from the place where the surviving women and children had been sent to hide. Then those few remaining ninjas who had chakra enough for high-level jutsus would attempt to engage it again, supported by groups of less-experienced shinobi firing off barrages of kunai and shuriken._

_It was a good plan, and Kakashi had had a significant hand in formulating it, due to the fact that Konoha's organizational structure and chain of command had been blown to oblivion in the first hour of the Kyubi's attack. Now, those who were alive grouped up and took orders from practically anyone who was able to give them. In another place and time, Kakashi might have laughed to see himself in such a position of authority. But for the present, he couldn't even remember what laughter was._

_Signals from the two ninjas that flanked him told Kakashi that the group had finished laying the web of explosive tags. All that was left was to set up the diversion and then lead the nine-tails into the trap. He signaled back, sending them ahead._

_Before they could signal confirmation, the entire forest blew to hell._

_Perhaps the Kyubi had scented them out, or gotten sight or sound of them zipping through the woods before it. Or perhaps, as Kakashi bitterly liked to suppose, it had the ability to read the minds of those allied against it. Whatever the case, it made a leap of unprecedented proportions and the monster was suddenly among them._

_The massive explosion blew Kakashi back through the rapidly incinerating forest canopy like a kunai thrown through flames. His battered body cut through leaves and branches for what seemed like an eternity, until the arc of his flight was finally interrupted by a particularly unforgiving tree trunk, and he fell, mercifully unconscious, to the forest floor with a quiet thud._

_He opened his eyes seconds, or perhaps minutes, later with a vague sense of disappointment at the fact that he was still alive. The sight that greeted him was the unnatural red light of flames filtering through the otherwise peaceful forest. It took him a moment to realize that what he had mistaken for silence was actual the temporary deafness he was experiencing from the explosion. Movement that wavered in his blurred sight and a familiar vibration from off to his left told him that the Kyubi was on the move again, and headed in precisely the wrong direction._

_The plan had been a spectacular failure._

_Kakashi no longer had the capacity for remorse. He steeled himself for the process of assessing his new injuries. If he could, he would go on. If not, he would accept the release of oblivion there at the foot of that tree._

_But before he had the chance to move, something entirely unexpected captured his attention. A small yellow bird had landed right in front of him. It was an extraordinarily familiar creature, though the memory of it seemed like one from another lifetime. The bird was a messenger- a short-range messenger used by his sensei._

_Yondaime Hokage had returned._

_The bird sang something at him but Kakashi shook his head, trying to indicate that he couldn't hear. The bird cocked its head and stared at him intently. Then it hopped into the palm of one limp hand and tapped its message gently against his skin. The message was quite short, merely the coordinates of a meeting place. Kakashi nodded and the bird flew off._

_Empowered by this revelation and by his new mission, Kakashi gathered his strength and stood. New burns and lacerations announced their presence with a cacophony of pain but behind them he found that, remarkably, his structural integrity had remained almost intact. The only new broken bones were in his arm and could be, for the time being, ignored. After a few staggering steps he reestablished the weak tendrils of chakra supporting his leg._

_And then he was gone._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Rin winced reflexively as a massive explosion in the distance rocked the ground at her feet and assaulted her senses with a harsh barrage of sound and light. Unconsciously she reached down to shield her nearest patient from the disquieting effects of the blast, but no sooner had she lifted his head than she realized that he had already left the world of the living. A very detached part of her consciousness told her that she should be deeply disturbed by this. Certainly, on a normal mission, the loss of any ninja was a terrible tragedy, especially for the irio-nin on duty. But this battlefield was worlds apart from the normal. Here Rin was not preserving individual lives. She was doing triage. _

_For the duration of the battle Rin had been leading a field medical team following directly in the wake of the Kyubi. After each explosion, each plume of flame, each sweeping strike of the monster's tails, her group found and sorted the dead from the living. Those that were lucky (or perhaps unlucky) enough to survive intact, were stabilized and ferried back to safer medical camps. Those that would have little chance were made comfortable and left to their fate. It was grim, soul-less work, and for Rin it was made all the worse by the fact that she knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that somewhere out there Kakashi was fighting this battle as well. The cruel reality was that any one of those walking corpses and any one of those still, cold bodies…might very well turn out to be his. _

_All she need do, she knew, was signal to him. If he was alive anywhere in that wide forest she knew he would answer her call. But she also that his safety hinged, in part, on the fact that he believed her to be hundreds of miles away. For the past six months she had been out in the field doing medical charity work with people from some of the more impoverished nations. She was supposed to be gone for seven months, but she had finished her circuit early and came back to Konoha hoping to surprise Kakashi and their sensei. In the end, she had been the one with the surprise waiting for her—when she had arrived, the village was already in flames. _

_With Rin, his precious teammate and closest friend, away on a mission, Kakashi had no one to protect; no one for whom he might throw his life away. Out of penance or perhaps gratitude, he always insisted upon taking up the burdens of others. This time she had the chance, she could face the burden of worry and leave him to do his job unfettered. As much as it hurt, she would bear with it because of his example and for his sake._

_After Obito's sacrifice, Kakashi had grown and changed. A person who has been given a second life at the cost of another's cannot help but be transformed by the experience. But it wasn't only his increasingly self-sacrificial tendencies. He had mellowed a bit, and gained a note of humility as well. And, whether it was due to Obito's influence on him or simply the suffering and recovery they had endured together, Kakashi had drawn closer to her, even as her once childlike feelings for him gained depth. Though the pair and their sensei were, as ever, an inseparable threesome, it was becoming obvious to everyone else that Kakashi and Rin shared an even deeper bond._

_Rin deposited her departed patient respectfully out of the way of the others and speedily finished up with the remaining injured. Then she signaled the rest of the medical team and headed in the direction of the explosion. _

_It was not difficult to find the location of the blast. A good kilometer of the forest had been cleared by the inferno and perhaps a kilometer further was smoldering angrily. Strangely, the burn-pattern was not entirely like that left by the Kyubi. It looked rather more like it had been the result of explosive jutsu or tags. Perhaps it had been set intentionally? Another failed attempt on the monster? Her suspicious were confirmed when her teammates started finding charred bodies scattered throughout the surrounding forest. It seemed that many of those who had set the trap hadn't made it out._

_Her team fanned out and began a systematic search of the area. As shinobi, they had the added benefit of being able to search the trees for trace. Even as Rin searched her first quadrant, she heard her teammates reporting trails of blood spatter across trees…trails that ended with bodies. It wasn't long before Rin found one herself. The ninja, a jounin she didn't recognize, had been blown through dense brush that had ripped through clothing and flesh like a kamaitachi before he had been impaled on an upturned tree stump. It was a grizzly sight. "Rin." Her headset crackled. "We may have a live one." It was Mariko, a Chunin, but a skilled healer. "Go ahead, Mari." She said. "Got plenty of splatter, like the others," the girl said. "But there's no body at the end of it." Rin frowned, some shinobi were quite capable of pushing their injured bodies past all reasonable limits, "Sounds like they couldn't have gotten far. I'll come and help you look," she said and then cut out. She had only taken a few steps when a familiar little bird landed delicately on her shoulder._

_

* * *

_

Kakashi arrived at the coordinates—a nearby bamboo stand—and looked around. There was no one and nothing there. He mentally re-checked the coordinates. Could he have misinterpreted the messenger or the coding? Given his physical state, he had to admit that it was entirely possible. Yet he had no second guesses and no means by which to obtain further instructions. And even as he stood thinking, gravity was pitching some very persuasive arguments to his abused body. Not quite knowing what else to do, yet numbly grateful to be away from the fight, Kakashi eased himself haltingly to the ground, to wait and to rest.

* * *

_Rin arrived in the bamboo forest, as per instructions from the bird, and was similarly disconcerted by its apparent vacancy. It was certainly not what she had expected from her sensei. As far as she knew, the Yellow Flash of Konoha was never when it really mattered. As she walked and pondered this turn of events, she stumbled upon some trace on the ground that was very like what she had been hunting moments before. Blood spatter lead to what appeared to be a collapsed body. Poor guy…drug himself all the way out here only to die…was her initial thought as she approached with the detached curiosity of a medical professional. She was reaching a hand up to her headset to call her team off the search when a flash of familiarity made her pause and an utterly sick feeling of dread filled her. The hair on that head, despite the blood staining and matting most of it, had definitely at one point been pure silver. As the horror spread through her, more points of recognition, masked though they were, became apparent: the tilted hitae-ate, that particular slant to the shoulders, the long torso, the longer legs, the awkwardly big feet of a young man not quite finished with his growth spurt…_

"_Kakashi!" she tried to yell, but it came out as more of a strangled gasp. She was at his side in a burst of speed that might have given their sensei a run for his money. Staring open mouthed at the grievous injuries that had presumably killed him, she gently took both of his shoulders in her shaking hands and pulled him toward her. _

* * *

_Kakashi hadn't realized he was slipping from consciousness until he felt an unexpected touch on his shoulders. He opened his eye, simultaneously making a haphazard attempt to pull away. The hands jerked reflexively, but continued to restrain him. His eye was having trouble focusing, most likely because of the blood that had pooled in it. He blinked stubbornly trying to clear it. Enemy or friend? He couldn't tell! Then he suddenly found himself wrapped in a warm and infinitely gentle embrace. One whiff of the hair that was trailing in front of his face was enough to tell him everything. "Rin!" he exclaimed, or tried to. His ears still rung from the blast. He couldn't even hear his own voice. "Rin." He said again, overjoyed and then confused at the same time. "What…what are you doing here?"_

"_I…just got back." She lied._

_He read her lips and frowned. "When?" he asked, as he raised his good arm to reach up and touch her face. The old blood spattered across her features and the lines of worry around her kind eyes told him that she had already played a part in this battle. "You're not hurt, are you?!" he asked urgently, and attempted to rise and see for himself, but her firm grip kept him still. _

"_No, baka," she chided him with a fake smile that looked twisted with worry. "I've been here since morning, working with the triage crew." She confessed with some resignation. _

_Kakashi's blood streaked eye widened. "You should've…" he said with force but slowed when he saw the look on her face "…told me." He couldn't quite stand to look at the pain and anger in her gaze and he inclined his head downward. "No," she said coldly, "I shouldn't have." In sharp contrast to her words, her warm hands began sending healing tendrils of chakra into his battered body. _

_After a moment's pause he looked back into her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, and somehow his eye begged forgiveness, "I'm sorry for making you worry." The apology broke whatever resolve she had left and with a strangled sob she gathered him into her arms and held him, weeping silently over his shoulder. Kakashi returned the embrace as best he could, and let her tears and healing chakra slowly but steadily revive him._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Rin had nearly finished setting Kakashi's leg when they arrived. In one silent flicker of movement, three masked and cloaked Anbu appeared in formation right before the eyes of the reunited pair. Two of the Anbu were in poor shape. Barely standing, they looked as if the mere weight of their tattered cloaks might bear them to the ground at any moment. Their sorry state contrasted sharply to the one in between them. His plain black cloak was not only intact; it appeared untouched even by the dust that swirled around them as they landed. This one's very stance gave the unmistakable impression of thinly veiled power. Indeed, disguised though he was, this person needed no introduction. _

"_Yondaime sensei!" Rin fairly cried. She suddenly felt remarkably like an accident-prone child does when his parents finally come home to dig him out of the unholy disaster he's gotten himself into. _

"_Sensei!" Kakashi echoed, not quite managing to mask his own profound relief with dignified indifference._

_The Yondaime Hokage lifted off his borrowed mask with one hand and greeted them with his ever-so-familiar grin. "I am so glad you two made it." He said warmly, and then sent off his two Anbu guards with a quick hand-signal. "But it looks like, as usual, I have to scold you, Kakashi-kun, for pushing yourself too hard." He shook his blond head, feigning disappointment. _

_Kakashi looked away with an embarrassed "hmph." It wasn't fair that with a single comment, his sensei could still reduce him to the level of a chastised child._

"_Now," said their Hokage, with disconcerting gravity, "We three need to talk." He took a step towards them and, to the horror of his two disciples, he staggered slightly. Certainly, their sensei was a clumsy person by nature but neither of them missed the look of pain that had flickered across his cheerful face. _

"_Sensei!" they both exclaimed. Rin was on her feet instantaneously and Kakashi struggled to follow._

"_No!" The Yondaime said sharply, and they paused, "Rin, see to Kakashi first." _

_It was clearly an order; the two sat back down. Then, a little stiffly, their sensei came over and joined them. He began with a sigh and his students saw in his ever confidant features signs of exhaustion that, to their recollection, he'd never worn before. _

"_You guys might've guessed it already, but the trap we were caught in was sprung on both sides. My group was attacked before we even reached our destination." He paused and frowned in regret, "It was a difficult battle…They were _very_ well prepared." He looked down, "Those two with me…they were the only other survivors."_

_Rin gasped and Kakashi's eye widened in shock. There had been hundreds of shinobi in the Hokage's retinue. _

"_But what about your…" Rin began, but the Yondaime cut her off with a nod. "She's gone." A tear was visible in the corner of his eye. _

"_And…the baby?" Rin could not help but ask, though she could hardly bear to hear the response she expected._

_But the Yondaime answered with a smile that held so much sadness yet so much love that it seemed his heart must be breaking. "She left him with me." He said softly, and undid the clasp of his cloak. There, nestled gently in the crook of his other arm was a tiny baby boy with brilliant blond hair. The Hokage looked tenderly down on the child and cupped his had around his small face. He looked like he was trying to transmit a lifetime of love and compassion to the child in a single moment. "His name is Naruto." He said._

_The Yondaime's gaze lasted several minutes. There was an air of finality about him, as though he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that a moment like this would never come again._

_At last, Kakashi's still-ragged voice broke the silence. "Yondaime-sensei," he said regretfully. "The Kyubii…do you have a plan?" _

_The Yondaime's eyes came unfocused for a moment, as if he were seeing through time rather than space. "A plan…" he said wistfully, almost painfully. Then he broke off his reverie abruptly, wrapped the child deftly in his cloak and set it down carefully between the three of them. "Yes, I have a plan!" he said passionately. The spark was back in his eye and his voice as he clasped the shoulders of his two pupils with a strong grip and looked them each in the eye. "And I need your help."_

* * *

"_You're going to what??" Rin exclaimed in unmasked disbelief. _

"_I'm going to seal it." The Yondaime repeated as he crouched over his inkstone, making preparations for the drawing of the seal. Kakashi had dragged his partially healed body over to his sensei's side, keeping his sharingan eye open in order to catch everything the Yondaime did. Rin was hovering anxiously over the two of them, holding the sleeping baby. "It is the only option," he said decisively, yet gravely. "Even at full strength, I would not be able to destroy the Kyubi alone. So it must be sealed safely away. In fact, this creature has probably been sealed dozens of times, over many generations, before it was intentionally released through the death of its bearer. That's just how it is with monsters like that." He finished with the ink and readied the water and his finest brush. _

"_But…why does it have to be a baby…?" she asked in an almost pleading tone as she looked at the child whose eyes smiled in his sleep. _

_The Yondaime frowned, as if the question brought an unpleasant taste to his mind. "An adult body cannot adjust to the vast amount of chakra that the Kyubi possesses. And it can't accept another system of chakra flow. The infant body, on the other hand," he cast another fond glance at the child, "is still growing rapidly. If the jutsu is performed correctly…and it WILL be performed correctly, he'll pull through without a scratch." He reached up and ruffled little Naruto's hair. "But I don't envy him the stomachache he'll have afterward!" _

_It took him a minute more to finish mixing the ink and then he carefully took the baby from Rin's arms. With a deft sweep of a damp cloth he wiped down the surface of the child's belly, where he would inscribe the seal. "Kakashi," he beckoned for his student to come closer, even as he adjusted his grip on the cloak so as to hold the infant in one hand and the brush in the other. "I need you to use your sharingan to memorize this seal as I draw it. Then you'll have to reproduce it exactly on my back and chest." He looked dubiously at the young jounin's broken arm, now neatly splinted and bandaged. "Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked pointedly. "Absolutely." Answered Kakashi, and, to prove his point, he used one finger of this other hand to scribe a difficult kanji in a patch of nearby sand. It was flawless. Nodding in satisfaction the Yondaime readied his brush as Kakashi's eye began to whirl slowly. _

_The complicated seal took only a few seconds to complete and the eye Kakashi's best friend had given him captured every movement of the brush with minute precision. But even as he watched, Kakashi began to frown. In order for one to reproduce a seal, one must be able to read it's text and what he read in the small running script sent a deep chill through him. As the unique ink disappeared on the infant's stomach, it burned itself forever into Kakashi's perfect memory. _

_He looked to Rin for confirmation and her stricken expression told him that she had read in the tiny scrawl the same message he had. In unison they turned to stare at their sensei. "This jutsu…" began Rin. _

"_We can't let you perform this jutsu," Kakashi finished for her. _

"_Oh?" said the Yondaime with a false smile. "Why ever not?" He focused on re wrapping the baby and making him comfortable in the big bundle of cloak. _

"_This jutsu will _kill_ you!!" Rin said frantically and grabbed his arm, spinning their sensei around to face them. He still avoided their eyes. _

"_And you know it." followed Kakashi, with a low voice that carried a great deal more genuine anger than was normal for the young man. _

_The Yondaime still did not look up and Rin tugged at him pleadingly, "Sensei," she begged. _

_Finally he sighed away the last of his false good humor. _

"_It's true," he said grimly, "The only jutsu powerful enough for this will bind me in a life and death battle with the monster, and only then will it seal him." _

_Rin opened her mouth to object. _

"_There _is_ no other way," he countered. _

_As tears filled her eyes he pulled her over into a fatherly hug. _

_Kakashi, on the other hand, kept his distance. "Sensei," he said in a cold voice, and deliberately took up his teacher's brush in apparent defiance. "I can't allow you to do that." _

_Yondaime raised a questioning eyebrow. "And you really think you're in any position to stop me?" he asked, and, with a bright flicker, caused the brush to disappear from Kakashi's grasp. _

_The young man looked chastised but continued earnestly, "Sensei, you are the Hokage. The village _needs_ you, now more than ever." _

_Rin pulled herself away from his shoulder to give him a tearful nod that carried an unspoken message_—we need you

_Kakashi swallowed and then looked Yondaime in the eye. "Please let me take your place." _

_Rin looked stricken and their sensei gave an unreadable stare. Then he broke into a hearty laugh and reached to ruffle his student's blood streaked hair. "Ah Kakashi-kun. Always trying to play the hero." _

_Under his mask Kakashi was scowling fiercely. "_I mean it_!" he announced, with obvious indignation. _

"_I know, I know…" their sensei said, and his free arm took Kakashi by the shoulders and brought him into the embrace. "And the time will come for each of you to be the hero," he said proudly and rested his head on the tops of theirs. "But even if you weren't broken," he gave Kakashi a slight squeeze, "And you weren't near the limit of your chakra," he poked at Rin, "Neither of you is ready to handle this jutsu anyway. No, the jutsu is _my_ part of the mission. What happens after…that can only be left to the two of you. This is our final mission together. I need to know I can count on you." He pulled back and held each of them at arms length. _

_Both looked profoundly saddened, yet just as deeply determined. "Ryoukai," they said in unison. The Yondaime smiled at his two proteges with genuine pride. "Good," he said and gave them a final nod._

"_Now Kakashi," he said, getting back to the task at hand. He returned the brush he had swiped, and began to slip out of his vest. "I'll give you the center of the spiral and you can start duplicating the seal from there. After that we'll talk about what I need you two to do once the jutsu is complete." Kakashi nodded and dipped the brush into the ink. The Yondaime swept the cloth over his visibly bruised back and then marked the spot for the center of the five part seal. "Alright," he said, and held himself perfectly still. Kakashi took a deep breath, knowing that the act of writing the seal would condemn his sensei, his Hokage, his friend, and his only father-figure forever. Then he looked inside himself, and set the brush in motion._


End file.
